Thawing system for railway cars



Nov. 29 1949 w. c. ELZE ETAL 2,489,874

THAWING SYSTEM FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed March 8, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR$ MLTER 6'. 425 AND ALEXANDER (J. Tl/RP/N BY z A T TORNE X NOV 29,1949 w, c, ETAL 2,489,874

THAWING SYSTEM FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed March 8, 1945 I 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I N VEN TORS 4am 6.6225 mm BY AL XANOER M TUkP/N A TTOR/VE X Patented Nov. 29, 1949 UNITED STATE THAWING SYSTEM FOR RAILWAY CARS Walter C. Elze and Alexander J. Turpin, Forest Hills Gardens, N. Y., assignors to Hauck Manufacturing Company, Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 8, 1945, Serial No. 581,848 4Claims. (Cl. 1'o4 51 4 l The invention relates to thawing systems for use with railway cars, more especially ofv the hopper type with bottom dump, such as cars for transporting coal and like broken materials which may become frozen during thewinter season into a solid mass. Considerable difliculty may be experienced in loosening such solidified mass not only as to the individual particles but as well in loosening the material from the container, also in the opening of the dump doors thereof Various expedients have been resorted to in attempting such thawing, for example, streams of steam have been directed to the car as well as jets of flame from suitable burner apparatus, and pounding with suitable implements. While these means may be effective to a certain degree at particular portions of the solidified mass, such as those in the region of immediate contact by a stream or blow, a general thawing and loosening of the entire mass is not satisfactorily attained, and the operation, also, requires continuous personal attention and an undue amount of time.

The present invention has for an object to expedite such thawing operations and to bring about a more uniform action in the loosening operation by providing for a combined radiation and convection effect of a gaseous heating medium, with extended area of application of the same.

Another object of the invention is to provide means whereby thawing operationsof the nature,

set forth may progress with minimum personal attention, once the heating has been initiated.

Still another object is to provide an open-top pit or combustion chamber adapted for association with the car whose contents, as well as the hopper portion of said car, are to be thawed.

The invention has for anobject, also, to provide' an open-top pit with combustion chamber designed to be installed between the two rails of the track over which a car may be run and located thereover for the thawing operation; and to provide to this end burner 'members upon opposite sides of the track outside the rails thereof for directin oppositely intothe said combustion chamber air with combustible media for effecting combustion of such media therein.

A further object is to so -mount the burner members with respect to an associated combustion chamber that the streams provided by these burner members will be delivered therein displaced in a direction longitudinally of the track and be also directed substantially to diagonally opposite corners of said combustion chamber.

Astill further object is to'provide the streamreceiving corners of the combustion chamber with asurface having a contour such as to impart to the products of combustion and/or combustible mixture a swirling or rotary movement for more intimate mixture thereof and to reduce exit velocity of these gases, as well as to cause them to be deflected upwardly through the open top of the pit, thereby to secure a more equal distribution of said products of combustion over the full area of opening rather than a delivery therefrom of jets of flame;

Another object is to associate suitable housings with the combustion chamber for accommodating the respective burner members at op-v posite sides of the track and provide openings therefrom to the combustion chamber for introducing into the chamber the discharges from the burner members.

In carrying out the invention, a more or less elongated or rectangular pit is set transversely below a track in a depression provided in the roadbed which has first been cleared of one or more of the usual ties as may be required, the combustion chamber portion of the pit being located between two rails of said track and being open at the top and extended upwardly to terminate in an outlet located slightly below the running surface of the rails so as to avoid possible load thereon. At both sides, the combustion chamber is flanked by secondary chambers located outside the corresponding rails, said chambers housing suitable burner members and control mechanism therefor. The walls between the combustion chamber and these secondary chambers are depressed substantially below the running-surface of the rails where they pass under said rails and adjacently thereto the pit wall portions afiord supporting shoulders for rail securing plates.

- The burner members are designed to deliver into the'combustion chamber, from opposite ends and through suitable openings provided in said common walls, streams of combustible mixtures and/or flames and in a manner such that the respective jets will not directly collide therein.

The openings to this end are displaced therein- The streams are directed preferably to diagonally opposite eor-" longitudinally of the track.

ners of the combustion chamber, which corners,

preferably, also are of such construction or contours that a swirling or rotar movement will be imparted thereby to the introduced streams and also an upward deflection toward the top outlet of the said combustion chamber.

The nature of the invention, however, will 3 best be understood when described in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a section of railroad track equipped with a battery of the novel heating pits.

Fig. 2 is a detail plan view of a pit-equipped section of track.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section taken on theline 33, Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows; and Fig. 4 is a similar and transverse section with a portion broken away,-.taken n;the.

line 4-4, Fig. 3 of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, an installation of the novel thawing system is shown in Fig. 1, and comprises a succession or battery of 'pits l0 *ar-- ranged transversely of a section of track having rails H and I2, the usual tiesior .which.:.have,.'

been replaced by shoulder portions l3 and .H. adjacent depressed portions of the end walls of" the combustion chamber l5 of the pit. These shoulders carry rail securing plates -l6-- and 4' 1,

respectively, of well known design and adapted to fasten or hold down-a rail in the-usual mannern One, or more, of the pits is designed to take care of a car (not shown) which is to be run" over the track to the particular location of a pitor pits so that heat from the outlet l8 of a pit passes both by radiation from-the interior walls of the pit and by convection of the products of combustion directly to the underside of a car and in the vicinity of the bottom dump thereof when thus equipped.

In installing the novel thawing pits, a depression of ample size is prepared in the roadbed, first removing the required number of ties, to: permit of pouring or sinking a pit into the depression such that when the rails have been laid thereover an intermediate orcombustion cham ber l5 may be located between the rails Hand l2. This chamber is preferably. constructed- 01 suitable refractory materialv such as .fire-rbrick and the like and it extendseupwardly .betweensthe-v rails to provide the outlet ill-which terminates slightly below the running'surfaces of said railsso that no excessive.load,.as from .acar, will she;

applied tov the pit. The pits..are constructed, preferably, of rectangular shape. andare disposed; transversely of the rails with inclined approach. portions between the irails :at:the sides of the pit. Respective openings or ports 2-! and 22 area:-

provided in the end walls of .a combustion chamr:

ber l5 at the lower portion thereof, for thepurepose hereinafter set forth, and toafford com?- munication between the combustion chamberand second chambers 23 and 24rwhichflank said combustion chamber and aresituated; beyondthe At the'outecend of a-said corresponding rails.

port or communicationa seallng' plate or mount.-

ing bracket 25 and a similar plate or mounting? bracket 26 are provided-on the-common walls between the combustion ohamber and'the secondarychambers, and they have openings therethroughi. coaxial with the corresponding; ports. These;

openings are adapted to, receive the nozzle end:

of burner members 21' and 28: for; discharge-,-

through said ports intothe combustion chamber.

of combustible mixtures,,for example, of fuelgas v and air, or powdered solid .fueland air, orqof, flames from said burners.

Mains 30 for the fuel and mains 3| for .air parallel the track; and at intervals-,corresponde ing to the number of pits, branches are taken,

therefrom and pass through channels or depres sions 32 and 33 in the side wallsof the. pit to the corresponding secondary chambers to supply the burner members 21 and 28 therein. The usual fuel metering and control means are associated with these supply mains and branches while, preferably, in the secondary chambers are located the immediate shut-off valves 34 and 35all of which control and connection arrangements are well. understood and no invention is claimed for the same herein.

To avoid direct collision within a combustion chamber l5 between the entering streams or jets of combustible mixture and/or flames, the ports 2| and 22 are staggered or displaced therein longitudinallybf thetrack, as indicated in Fig. 2 of the drawings, and, further, are directed to diagonallyopposite corners 36 and 31 of a chamber. These corners are finished to a curved or toroidal surface ofimpact for the respective streams, thereby causing the same to be swirled or rotated in a substantially horizontal plane as well as to be deflected upwardly toward the outlet opening I8"to secure a more equal distribution of products of combustion over a full area, as well as to.- reduce the exit velocity of" these products. This will provide for more ef in the novel arrangement both by radiation fromthe highly heatedinner-=walls of the combustion chamber and byconvection of said products of combustion to a car located over said outlet open ing l8. No flame-furthermore, is likely to'contact" a car body.

We claim:

1. In a system for thawing from below railway cars while located on a track, the combinationwith a pit, set in a depression below the track,

affording a combustion chamber between therails of the track and flanked on each side by:

secondary chambers located outside the tracks" and having openings affording communication" with the combustion chamber; said openings being displaced with respect to each other longitudinally of the track; of burner members including control means therefor housed in the reare located so as to direct streams of combustible=- mixture and/or flame to diagonally opposite corners of said combustion chamber.

3. The .thawing system as claimed in claim 1', wherein the openings between respective secondary chambers and the combustion chamber are located sc-as .to1direct streams of combustible;

mixtureand/iorflameto diagonally opposite corners of said .combustionchamber and said 1cor- .nerssare of toroidal contour .for deflecting the; streamsxbothina horizontal-.planeand in a ver tical plane.

upwardly between the rails slightly below the running surface-thereof. :to provide an outlet for ,.,products of combustion, the tops of the end walls of the combustion chamber being depressed over:v a portion, the-adjacent pit wallsproviding shouldersfor supporting the rails, and the combustion; chamber being flanked on. each ,chambers. located: outside the tracks and having fective thawing action which is accomplished respectively side by secondary;

corresponding openings into said combustion chamber.

WALTER C. ELZE. ALEXANDER J. TURPIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Bornarth Sept. 16, 1884 Number 

